I choose to write my foundations paper on an organization that is based in my area that I live in, and although it is in my area it is not just a local organization but one that actually has the ability to span across the nation with support from local companies, as well as government agencies. The organization with which I am speaking is the Freestore Foodbank. I will go into the details of the non-profit organization in further detail in this paper. The Freestore began in 1971 by a man named Frank Gerson who worked in Cincinnati’s incinerator. He saw that there was too many household items that were being wasted when there were so many in his community that needed help. So this man quit his job, and started the non-profit business out of his apartment. By 1979 it had grown too big for his little apartment to handle, so he decided to get a warehouse to handle the sorting, and distribution of the food items for his community. Also at this time the Freestore became a founding member of Feeding America, which helped the organization evolve into the Freestore Foodbank. Today the Freestore is one of over 200 foodbanks within the Feeding America networks, which helps serve communities across the whole nation, not just in the Cincinnati area. They distribute over 19 million meals through a network of 275 community agencies. www.fsfb.org. This is an astonishing number of meals that are handed out to those that are going hungry, which is the organizations main mission. No one should go hungry; this is also my personal view on this as well.

The Freestore Foodbank not only helps with assisting with families who need to put food on the table for their children, and dependants but also helps point them in the correct direction for other services such as help with clothing, job placement, assistance with utilities, and health services. The Freestore takes donations of canned goods, as well as help from government agencies, retailers, and produce farmers. These donations go out to those that are in my community as well as our surrounding states, and even across the nation, and 94 percent of the organizations donations are reaching our communities. The Freestore’s mission is to provide meals to its community as well as putting them in the right direction for other services to help with family stability. The organization is supported by local agencies such as the Kroger Co. which a chain of grocery stores that assists with canned goods as well as raising money for them through their store around the holidays. They also get support and assistance from the Bengals which is an NFL football team; they receive promotional support as well as media support and donations from the football team, and their supporters. A few other organizations that are well known that help out the Freestore is the Congressional Hunger Center, and government agencies with grants, and resources to run the organization now that they are so big. You can find more information on how to help with community hunger at the National Center for Children in Poverty, as well as the U.S. Department of agriculture. These organizations can give you statistics as well as point you in the right direction if you want to help you communities hunger issues.

There are now two facilities to assist with the high volume of food donations that come through the center there is the facility in Cincinnati, OH which was the first warehouse for the organization this now serves as the distribution center for the Freestore, and now there is a second warehouse in Bond Hill, OH that serves as the sorting facility. There are thousands of items that have to be gone through on a daily basis to ensure the quality that is given to our communities is above par standards. I think that this is astounding to know that there is such an organization within my community that is dedicated to helping those that are in need the most of nutritional food to eat. For one man to see a need, and than take it upon his self to see that not only things do not get wasted, but to also be able to get those items to those within his community. For him to quit his job, to help those in need and for it to have been such a success really astounds me personally. Kudos to you Mr. Gerson for seeing that a problem existed within your community and than trying to solve it on your own. A role model for me to look at within the Human Service Organization field.